Relationships define good communities

Published: Saturday, September 28, 2013 at 04:00 PM.

For me, it was a chance to observe that what was happening that night was a microcosm of what happens in good communities across the country, the kind of thing that only happens when parents and coaches and businesses are linked.

It happens in Bay County a good bit, but not always in ways that everyone notices. If your child doesn’t play soccer and wasn’t interested in this clinic, you never would’ve heard about this unless you read about it in the paper, and that’s not the same as being there. I certainly wouldn’t be writing a column about it if my son had not been there, because that’s what gave me personal exposure.

But as I watched the kids running around in controlled chaos it occurred to me that this kind of thing happens here all the time. It might be a baseball clinic sponsored by a local business, or a basketball clinic for elementary school kids hosted by Gulf Coast State College’s women’s team, or a fish fry to bring people together and raise money for disaster victims.

We’re surrounded by these moments in time, but too often we don’t see them.

And it’s not just the parents and kids and coaches who get something out of it. Of course, the businesses are putting their name out there in a positive way, and that’s smart.

But my experience is an event that might start out as being something a business does because it makes good sense ultimately turns into something that a business does because its owners develop a passion for it. I know that’s the case with Cramer’s dealership and the BCYSA, as well as the Empty Stocking Fund, which Cramer’s business has been involved in with The News Herald for decades and which has provided millions of dollars to help the needy.

On Thursday it all came together, again, for a night: a free event that brought 200-plus kids and their families together with coaches from across the ocean and made possible because of the relationships that develop over time between those parents, that league and a local business.

There is something inherently fun in watching adults who connect with kids pass on a lifetime of skill and knowledge, whether it is the teacher who inspires your child to embrace a subject previously scorned or a coach who turns a hesitant child into a confident one.

We’ve had those exact two things happen recently, as my son has developed a new-found hunger for memorizing his multiplication after his teacher challenged him, and his excitement for soccer turned more from it being a chance to be around his friends into a desire to get better.

Thursday night at H.G. Harders Park off John Pitts Road, parents watched 200-plus Bay County kids connect with United Kingdom Elite soccer coaches during a free three-hour workshop. The clinic was sponsored by Bill Cramer Chevrolet of Panama City as part of the Chevy Youth Soccer Program and hosted locally by the Bay County Youth Soccer Association.

Sometimes when something is free, you can cast a wary eye upon it and wonder just how good it can be if you do not have to pay for it. We knew it would be fun, and it was clear it was going to be well attended. But I wondered if they were prepared to handle that many kids. I can battle my son to a draw most days, but that’s a one-on-one situation and I’m bigger and stronger (for now).

For the kids it was a blast as they worked through three hours of drills when most are used to practicing one-and-a-half hours or so twice a week.

For the parents it was a chance to sit back and watch their kids engage, talk to other parents and listen to the U.K. coaches — with their British accents that inevitably leaves me reminiscing about Monty Python sketches — talk, yell, bark, cajole and encourage the kids.

“Do you think I talk funny?” one asked a group of kids in what seemed to be an intentionally thick accent. “Do ya think ya can talk like this? Let me ’ere it!” And, of course, a couple of kids attempted it.

For me, it was a chance to observe that what was happening that night was a microcosm of what happens in good communities across the country, the kind of thing that only happens when parents and coaches and businesses are linked.

It happens in Bay County a good bit, but not always in ways that everyone notices. If your child doesn’t play soccer and wasn’t interested in this clinic, you never would’ve heard about this unless you read about it in the paper, and that’s not the same as being there. I certainly wouldn’t be writing a column about it if my son had not been there, because that’s what gave me personal exposure.

But as I watched the kids running around in controlled chaos it occurred to me that this kind of thing happens here all the time. It might be a baseball clinic sponsored by a local business, or a basketball clinic for elementary school kids hosted by Gulf Coast State College’s women’s team, or a fish fry to bring people together and raise money for disaster victims.

We’re surrounded by these moments in time, but too often we don’t see them.

And it’s not just the parents and kids and coaches who get something out of it. Of course, the businesses are putting their name out there in a positive way, and that’s smart.

But my experience is an event that might start out as being something a business does because it makes good sense ultimately turns into something that a business does because its owners develop a passion for it. I know that’s the case with Cramer’s dealership and the BCYSA, as well as the Empty Stocking Fund, which Cramer’s business has been involved in with The News Herald for decades and which has provided millions of dollars to help the needy.

On Thursday it all came together, again, for a night: a free event that brought 200-plus kids and their families together with coaches from across the ocean and made possible because of the relationships that develop over time between those parents, that league and a local business.

And I think that’s what help makes this a pretty cool spot to call home.

Mike Cazalas is editor of The News Herald. Contact him at mmcazalas@pcnh.com or 850-747-5094.